JPH096575A - Information communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (Modified) [Configuration] On the display of the client computer connected to the server computer via the communication line,
The virtual reality space is displayed based on the information supplied from the server computer, and the service is provided according to the operation of the pointing device of the client computer in the virtual reality space. Here, a virtual city including a house MH and / or buildings DS and OS is formed in the virtual reality space, and the house MH represented in the virtual reality space is expressed as a symbol of a personal service, and the virtual city is displayed in the virtual reality space. Building DS represented in
Express the OS as a symbol of public service. [Effect] It is possible to realize an interface close to the direct operation of the user, it is easy to conceptually distinguish between personal service and public service, and it is easy for the user to conceptually understand the relationship between the user and the server.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to information communication in which a user operates a client computer and connects to a server computer using a communication line to provide and enjoy services such as information provision, video viewing and product ordering. A method and apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an online network service system has been put into practical use in which a user operates a client computer and connects to a server computer through a communication line to provide information, watch a video, order a product, and the like. is there.

Recently, in the above network service system, the service contents are beautifully expressed or stereoscopically close to the real world by using, for example, a three-dimensional graphic on the display of a monitor device connected to the client computer. It is becoming more common to present the conceptual model and metaphor to the user.

[0004]

However, as described above, many of the services that use three-dimensional graphics are designed so that the contents of the service are expressed, for example, like a store so that they look closer to the real world. , It merely makes the user easy to attach.

In the above network service system, personal services and public services are often expressed in one town as an example of the virtual real world, and the service contents are clearly divided. Has not been done.

Furthermore, in a network service system, it is difficult to express a spatial connection when expressed in only two dimensions without using a three-dimensional graphic. Therefore, for example, the relationship between a server and a user is being accessed. It is difficult to make users understand conceptually.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and it is possible to realize an interface close to a direct operation of a user, and it is easy to conceptually distinguish between a personal service and a public service. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information communication method and device that allow a user to conceptually understand the relationship between a user and a server.

[0008]

According to an information communication method of the present invention, a virtual reality space based on information supplied from the server computer is displayed on a display means of an online terminal connected to the server computer via a communication line. However, the first virtual reality space is an information communication method for providing and receiving a service in accordance with the operation of the online terminal in the virtual reality space, the first virtual reality space symbolizing a personal service on the display means of the online terminal. Is displayed, a second virtual reality space symbolizing a public service is displayed on the display means of the online terminal, and a virtual city is formed by the first and second virtual reality spaces. Solve the problem.

The information communication apparatus of the present invention transmits and receives information between the display means for displaying an image, the connection means connected to a server computer via a communication line, and the server computer. An information communication device having an information processing unit that forms at least video information in a virtual reality space based on data supplied from a server computer, and which receives a service according to a selection operation in the virtual reality space. The information processing means displays on the display means a first virtual reality space symbolizing a personal service forming a virtual city and a second virtual reality space symbolizing a public service.
The above problem is solved by displaying the virtual reality space of.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the first virtual reality space symbolizes a personal service, and the second virtual reality space symbolizes a public service. By displaying the virtual reality space of, the user can conceptually distinguish between a personal service and a public service.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, before describing the specific contents of the present invention,
The overall system of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 1, a client computer 2 which is an online terminal includes a large-scale ATM network 3, a transfer conversation device 4, and an FDDI (Fiber Distribution Data In).
terface) interface 5, for example, service management server 13 and video server 1 on the service supply side.
2. Connected to the service AP server 14. In addition,
The ATM is an asynchronous transfer mode, and the A
In TM, fixed-length data is divided into 48-byte units regardless of the type of data, a 5-byte header is added to the fixed-length data to create 53-byte cells, and switching is performed in cell units. This ATM network 3 is characterized in that it can transfer voices, moving pictures, and computer data in a mixed manner. The FDDI is a 100 Mbit / sec token-passing medium access method using an optical fiber.

The video server 12 comprises a server computer 7 and a data storage device 6 composed of, for example, a hard disk or an optical disk, and the data storage device 6 stores digital video data processed into a format such as MPEG described later. ing. The digital video data corresponding to the request from the client computer 2 is read from the data storage device 6 of the video server 12 and transferred.

The service AP server 14 also comprises a server computer 11 and a data storage device 10,
The data storage device 10 stores data and scripts that are the basis of a three-dimensional image as application (AP) program data. The service AP server 14
The application program data corresponding to the request from the client computer 2 is read out from the data storage device 10 and transferred.

The service management server 13 also comprises a server computer 9 and a data storage device 8. The service management server 13 handles the client computer 2 and manages each video server 7 and service AP server 11. I do.

The video server 12 and the service A
It is possible to provide a plurality of P servers 14 respectively, and it is also possible to combine each of the servers 12, 13, 14 into one server.

A request from the client computer 2 transferred through the ATM network 3 is transferred by the transfer conversation device 4
Protocol conversion and automatic data distribution called
The data is transmitted to the server side via the FDDI interface 5 and a device for converting the data transfer rate.

The data sent from the server side in response to the request from the client computer 2 is
It is displayed on the display of the monitor device 1 which is a display means that is processed by the client computer 2 for display, and thereby a user interface using a graphical display (graphical user interface, hereinafter referred to as GUI) is constructed. . Therefore, the user can operate and receive the service while watching the display on the display of the monitor 1.

Next, the configuration of the client computer 2 itself shown in FIG. 1 is as shown in FIG. 2, for example.

In FIG. 2, the EISA board 36
Is a communication board for connecting the client computer 2 and the ATM network 3, and a signal supplied to the EISA board 36 via the ATM network 3 is recorded / reproduced by the processing unit 41 as an information processing means. After being temporarily stored in the hard disk 43 controlled by, the three-dimensional rendering engine 34, the MPEG2 decoder 35, the PC audio decoder 39, and the MPEG2 audio decoder 4 are read according to the type of data.
It is sent to 0 mag.

The 3D rendering engine 34 uses 3
A coordinate converter that converts three-dimensional coordinate data of a three-dimensional object into data (image data in a three-dimensional virtual reality space) to be displayed on the display 20 of the monitor device 1, and is a GUI (graphical
It is for building a user interface).

The MPEG2 decoder 35 is a decoder for expanding the data compressed according to the MPEG2 standard. In addition, MPEG (Moving Picture Image Coding)
Experts Group: A study organization for video coding for storage) 2
Is an international standard for compression / decompression of moving images.

The RGB mixer 33 receives the data from the 3D rendering engine 34 and the MPEG2 decoder 35.
The data from both are R (red) and G of the three primary colors of light.
Since the data is composed of (green) and B (blue), data in which these R, G, and B are mixed is generated.

The NTSC encoder 32 converts the data from the RGB mixer 33 into an NTSC television standard signal. The video signal from the NTSC encoder 32 is displayed on the display 20 of the monitor device 1. On the display 20 in the example of FIG. 2, a pointer 22 by a pointing device and an M
An image 23 obtained by decoding PEG2 and an image (for example, a three-dimensional or two-dimensional image 21) for the GUI by the 3D rendering engine 34 are displayed. The image of the MPEG2 and the image for the GUI can be combined and displayed.

On the other hand, the PC audio decoder 39 is
For example, a sound effect is generated using the DPCM sound source. Also,
The MPEG2 audio decoder 40 expands the MPEG2 compressed audio data. The data from the PC audio decoder 39 and the data from the MPEG2 audio decoder 40 are transferred to the audio mixer 3.
The audio signal is mixed by 8 to be an audio signal, and the audio signal is sent to the speaker 30. Regarding the output of the sound from the speaker 30, stereo sound or multi-channel sound is desirable. Recently, a system that can stereoscopically localize the sound image by controlling the phase difference of the sound even with stereo sound has appeared.
These can also be used.

A GUI on the display 20 is also provided.
The operation using is performed based on the point information transmitted from the wireless mouse 31, which is an example of a pointing device. The point information transmitted from the wireless mouse 31 is stored in the wireless tuner 37.
And the received pointer information is received by the processing unit 4
Sent to 1. In addition, the above pointing device,
In addition to the wireless mouse 31, various types of devices such as a normal mouse, a trackball, a joystick, and a touch panel whose coordinate position corresponds to that of the display 20 can be used.

The processing unit 41 includes a CPU (central processing unit), and each component is connected via a bus based on program data held in the program ROM of the memory 42 having a function as a program ROM and a work RAM. And controls the GUI based on the point information from the wireless mouse 31, and communicates with the server computer as necessary.
Although the example of FIG. 2 shows an example in which the 3D rendering engine 34, the MPEG2 decoder 35, and the like are provided as independent chips, the above-described processing unit 41 performs various signal processing by these as software. It is also possible to do so.

The specific operation of online service provision to the user when the system of FIGS. 1 and 2 as described above is used will be described below.

First, the user uses the pointing device of the client computer 2 to instruct the connection between the client computer 2 and the server computer (in this case, the computer 9 of the service management server 13) on the network.

When the computer 9 of the service management server 13 on the server side is connected on the network and a request is supplied from the client computer 2, the computer 9 controls the video server 12 and the service AP server 14 according to the request. By doing so, the following data and software are transferred to the client computer 2. That is, in order to provide a service by virtual reality expression as described below, for example, a script that describes the behavior of the virtual reality world, three-dimensional coordinate data of the virtual reality world, voice data of the virtual reality world,
A script that describes options and the like to be instructed to the user from the client computer 2 and other various data necessary for processing are transferred.

The client computer 2 temporarily records the data received from the server computer on the hard disk 43, and then displays the data on the display 20 of the monitor 1.
The virtual reality world based on the data and software received from the server side is presented to the user by using the screen of FIG.

While viewing the virtual reality world presented by the client computer 2, the user uses the pointing device to instruct the moving direction and the like to wander around inside the virtual reality world and operate the operation buttons and the like to make the virtual reality. Receive services by working on objects or facilities within the real world.

That is, the client computer 2
According to the script, responds to the user's operation with the viewpoint position, line-of-sight direction, voice, and the action or behavior of the object in the virtual reality world, and monitors as if the user is inside the virtual reality world. The display 20 and the speaker of No. 1 are used to present the virtual reality world to the user. Also, depending on the script description,
Various information is provided to the user, statements are made, and items are ordered.

The server computer returns to the client computer 2 the data of the service contents in response to the request from the client computer 2 in response to the user's operation. As a result, the user can receive the service.

In the online service provision as described above, in the system of this embodiment, the user operates the client computer 2 to connect to the server computer by using a cable, a communication line, a network, etc. When receiving services such as video viewing and product ordering, a virtual city space is displayed in a three-dimensional graphic form on the display 20 of the monitor 1 connected to the client computer 2 as a conceptual model and metaphor expression for the user, and is displayed in the real world. By providing the service contents in a similar form, an interface close to the direct operation of the user is realized, and it is easy to conceptually distinguish between a personal service and a public service, and the relationship between the user and the server can be understood by the user. Is conceptually easy to understand.

In other words, in the system of the embodiment of the present invention, the relationship between the user and the server on the network is used on the online service by using the metaphor of the virtual city space of the three-dimensional three-dimensional representation, and the house (home) or the room (first). 1 virtual reality space) and a town or a building built there (second virtual reality space), and these 3D objects such as buildings and houses function as three-dimensional icons In this way, the space itself has a meaning as an interface so that the user can easily understand and enjoy the concept, and the service side realizes more specialized service contents.

A more specific example will be described. As shown in the configuration of the virtual city (house, town, building, etc.) in FIG. 3, in the system of the present embodiment, the home (home) MH or town DT existing in the hometown HT in the virtual reality space, O
Each T is connected to a server of an actual service providing company, and the user displays 3 on the display 20 of the client computer 2 which is an online terminal device.
According to an instruction from the pointing device in the three-dimensional virtual reality space, the user can freely come and go from house to town, town to town, town to house to enjoy services.

In the system of this embodiment, the buildings DS and OS ₁ are installed in the towns DT and OT in the virtual reality space shown in FIG.
~ OS ₄ exists, and the metaphor configuration of these buildings DS and OS _{1 to} OS ₄ expresses the content of the service by the number (height) of floors (floors) F1 to F5 as shown in FIG. Or
A clear division of services is realized by expressing the quantity of services by the size (area) of the floor. Here, the building in the virtual space can be constructed without being bound by the physical laws of the building as an actual building, so it is possible to flexibly respond to changes in services by increasing or decreasing floors. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, on the first floor (F1), the second floor (F2), and the fifth floor (F5), as shown by f _1V , f _2V , and f _5V in the figure, the area (service Content) Virtually expands to one side, for example, on the 3rd floor (F3) or 4th floor (f4), as shown by f _3V or f _4V in the figure, the width (service content) is virtually expanded to both sides. It can be unfolded.

In the system of this embodiment, the house MH (or the room therein) is a personal service (for example, e-mail, user customization, etc.), town DT,
The OT is a server, and the buildings (or shops) in these towns DT and OT are represented as symbols of public (or service provider side) services.

As described above, the feature of the system of the present invention is that the user's house and buildings in the town are displayed three-dimensionally to form a virtual city, and each building is provided with its own service. By making it compatible with the server of the company, not only can the characteristics of the service providing company be expressed by the structure, design, color of the building, etc.
It is possible to realize different services or hierarchical division of services. Also, because it is a virtual world,
It is also possible to represent a building with a structure that is not possible in practice, so respond to changes in the number of services and the contents by freely changing the height of the building and the size of the floor. It is possible to provide a flexible service construction environment to the service provider company. Furthermore, the user can enjoy the services provided there as if he / she were in the real world by going out from his / her home to this virtual town, moving through the town, and going around each floor of the building. In addition, in the conventional online service, a user interface mainly for character input is used for a hierarchically constructed service to reach a target service, but in the user interface of the present invention, Move,
Use metaphors such as elevators (direct access to services), escalators, stairs (access while checking each service) on the floor of the building,
By moving it up and down, you can not only lead to the target service without being aware of the hierarchical structure, but also consider the process of reaching it as a service, and provide enjoyment and ease of use.

On the other hand, in the home, the server is connected to (or can be connected to) the server in the background, and the service content for each user (for example, e-mail, video-on-demand viewing, user customization, etc.). ) Corresponds to a conceptual model / metaphor that is close to the real world, such as a room or a device placed in the room, so that it is possible to provide services in a form that is familiar. Therefore, the user can enjoy the video software purchased or rented in the town in the virtual reality space at any time by using the metaphor of the audio / visual device (AV device) of the house in the virtual reality space. Like writing or reading e-mail at the desk in the virtual reality space, you can get the service in a way that is familiar to human activities in the real world, and as described above. In addition, since you can receive services at your own convenience, you will be able to realize new service formats that were difficult to achieve with conventional video on demand.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, a house (or one's own land) is a metaphor of a personal service in a virtual space, a town (or a building, a store) is public, and a service provider side. By expressing it as a metaphor of, it is possible to express a conceptual distinction between a personal service and a public service, facilitate functional change, and express a clear distinction between a user-customizable part and a non-user-customizable part. .

In the present embodiment, it is possible to express the three-dimensional and the two-dimensional seamlessly by interweaving, or to express the two-dimensional pseudo three-dimensionally (2.5-dimensional). If the information that cannot be fully expressed in 3D (especially when performing real-time drawing calculation) is used in 2D, it is possible to present it as the information that is most recognizable to the user by using a picture that is most suitable in advance. , A moving part is three-dimensional, a still image is two-dimensional, and so on.

[0045]

According to the present invention, a virtual city including a house or a room, a town or a building is formed in a virtual reality space,
The house or room represented in the virtual reality space is represented as a symbol of personal service, and the town or building represented in the virtual reality space is represented as a symbol of public service. It is possible to realize an interface close to an operation, it is easy to conceptually distinguish between personal service and public service, and it is easy for the user to conceptually understand the relationship between the user and the server.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing a specific configuration of a client computer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a virtual city space.

[Fig. 4] Fig. 4 is a diagram for explaining the expansion of the service contents in association with the expansion of the floor of a virtual building.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Monitor Device 2 Client Computer 3 ATM Network 4 Transfer Conversation Device 5 FDDI Network 12 Video Server 13 Service Management Server 14 Service AP Server

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A virtual reality space based on information supplied from the server computer is displayed on a display means of the online terminal connected to the server computer via a communication line, and the online terminal in the virtual reality space is displayed. In an information communication method for providing and enjoying a service according to an operation, a first virtual reality space symbolizing a personal service is displayed on the display means of the online terminal, and the public means is displayed on the display means of the online terminal. Displaying a second virtual reality space that symbolizes a typical service, and forming a virtual city by the first and second virtual reality spaces. 2. The information communication method according to claim 1, wherein the first virtual reality space is represented as a virtual house or room. 3. The second virtual reality space comprises a virtual town or building, and the town or building corresponds to different server computers.
Information communication method described. 4. The information communication method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of shops in the town or each floor of a building correspond to different service contents. 5. The information communication method according to claim 1, wherein the virtual reality space is expressed as a three-dimensional space. 6. Information is transmitted and received between the display means for displaying an image, the connection means connected to the server computer via a communication line, and the server computer, and the data supplied from the server computer is used. And an information processing unit that forms at least video information in a virtual reality space based on the display unit, the information processing unit receiving a service according to a selection operation in the virtual reality space. An information communication device, characterized in that a first virtual reality space symbolizing a personal service forming a virtual city and a second virtual reality space symbolizing a public service are displayed. 7. The information communication device according to claim 6, wherein the first virtual reality space is represented as a virtual house or room. 8. The second virtual reality space comprises a virtual town or building, and the town or building corresponds to different server computers.
Information communication device as described. 9. The information communication device according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of shops in the town or each floor of a building correspond to different service contents. 10. The information communication device according to claim 6, wherein the virtual reality space is represented as a three-dimensional space.